"I am. Some of the drug was given to me when I was last in South America. It is almost impossible to procure it in this country now."
"How many people knew that you owned this drug?"
Doctor Boyd reflected a moment before answering. "I am sure only two people beside myself—my former assistant and Mrs. Bennett."
Colonel Andrews had no need to call for silence; one could hear a pin fall in that quiet room as court and spectators bent forward, the better to hear Doctor Boyd's low voice.
"How did Mrs. Bennett learn that you had some curari?"
"She came in to my consulting room one day last November. I had just been making some physiological tests, and the bottle containing the curari was on my table. After I had given her the prescription she had come for she asked me what the bottle contained.
"Curari is a curious poison, and one that is not much known, at least at this date. I explained that the South American Indians used it on their arrow points in the chase, animals killed by it being quite wholesome. I also told her that curari may, except in very large doses, be swallowed with impunity, but if introduced into a puncture of the skin, so as to mix with the blood, the effect is instantly fatal, and leaves no trace of poison behind it. She asked me how to obtain a solution of the drug, and I explained in detail; then, seeing she was ready to go, I rose and put the bottle of curari back on its shelf in the small medicine cabinet that hangs near my table."
"Is the cabinet kept locked?"
"No. My old housekeeper, Martha Crane, has charge of my private office and would not think of disturbing any of my belongings."
"Did you know Captain Lloyd?" read the judge advocate, pasting Warren's last question in his book.